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Thursday, May 17, 2012

This isn't every single thing there is to know about Google+. That could probably be a book rather than an article, and the Google+ Project has only just begun. If Google has its way, it will live on for years. Or it could go the Google Wave route. It's just too early to tell.Do you think Google+ will succeed? Share your thoughts in the comments.While we'll no doubt learn plenty more about Google+ as time goes on, here are some quick nuggets to get you a little more acquainted with it. 1. Google+ is currently available on an invitation-only basis.2. Google does not consider it a Facebook competitor (at least publicly).3. Google+ is currently available for download as an app in the Android Market.4. When you download that app, it splits off the "Huddle" feature as a separate app.

5. Users can post status updates, and these appear on the Google Profile under a tab called "Posts". The +1's and Buzz tabs remain separate. I have to wonder if we'll see Buzz and Posts merge eventually.6. What is available now is "just the beginning" according to Google. These are just the first features or presumably many more to come.7. Circles is one current feature. It lets you share things with different people (kind of like Facebook Groups) but with a very different user interface. Watch this video.8. Another feature is Sparks. This looks for videos and articles it thinks you'll like, so "when you're free, there's always something to watch, read, and share." Filter Bubble anyone? 9. Hangouts is another feature. It's basically group video chat. Google describes it as "the unplanned meet-up." 10. Instant uploads is a mobile-specific feature. Photos upload themselves as you take them, and are stored in a private area on the cloud.11. Huddle is another group-conversation feature for mobile. Essentially, it's group chat. 12. The stream is basically the equivalent of the Facebook news feed. 13. When you share something with Google+ it's added to your stream and the stream of everyone you shared with. 14. The stream shows you what all of your Circles have shared with you. 15. If you mention a user, using the "+" or "@" symbols, the person may receive a notification that you mentioned them.

16. You can see who specific posts were shared with in the stream -- whether they were shared publicly, to extended circles, or a limited group. 17. You can filter the stream by specific Circles.18. You can chat directly in the stream19. You can report inappropriate content.20. You can search for people from the search box at the top of the stream. 21. Soon, Google says you'll be able to search the stream itself from the search box. 22. If you leave comments on a post, you can edit or delete them.23. The same goes for posts, but you can't edit a post's sharing settings after the post has been shared. However, you can delete the post and share again to different circles.24. You can "reshare" posts made by others (like retweeting).25. You can "mute" a post. This will let you stop receiving updates from a post, like if the comments get out of control for example.

26. You can use the "Google+ Bar" that appears at the top of various Google products as your connection to the social network. 27. When you're signed in you'll see your full name or email address displayed with a photo or avatar next to it, to help you identify which account you're currently signed in to.

28. If you've enabled multi sign-in you can sign in to two different Google accounts and switch between them using the Google+ bar.29. When you sign up for Google+, you're also signing up for Picasa Web Albums, so all photos and videos uploaded to Google+ (including from your phone via Instant Upload) will also be available in Picasa Web Albums.30. You can use the Google +1 button from the stream. 31. You can have a ton of friends on Google+. Robert Scoble quickly added over 1,000. 32. The central user interface is very Facebook-esque.33. Google+ quickly became the butt of a lot of jokes (and even cartoons), but has also received a great deal of praise thus far. 34. With Google+ Google adds a "You" link to the recently redesigned (painted black) navigation bar across Google properties35. You can view public Google+ content without actually being invited (Danny Sullivan has a guide on how to view it )

36. China is already blocking Google+. That didn't take long. 37. Invitations have been listed on eBay.38. There are already privacy concerns about Google+ but the Privacy Guide can be found here. 39. According to the Financial Times article, you can share something within a closed "Circle," but somone from that circle can then reshare it with anyone, and even make it public.

Google is reportedly working on a new strategy for its forthcoming mobile operating system, Android 5.0 Jelly Bean. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Internet giant is going to give mobile device manufacturers an early access to the new mobile operating system in an attempt to come up with a more robust ecosystem and to take on arch-rival Apple.

The WSJ report, citing unnamed sources, says the new strategy could be launching the new operating system with multiple devices, doing away with current practice of working with single manufacturer on a "lead device" based on a new Android release. The report says Google may collaborate with up to five device-makers to produce "Nexus” lead devices, which could be either smartphones, tablets or both.

Google has changed its strategy for Android operating system quite often, it's learnt. Back in 2010, Google came up with its self-branded Android-based smartphone, Nexus One; but soon the venture was shut down.

Earlier this year, reports said Google was once again looking to launch co-branded Android devices manufactured by third party device makers through its online store. Another round of reports said Google would come up with own Android tablets this year via Motorola Mobility, the consumer arm of Motorola that Google acquired for $12.5 billion in 2011 and sell them through its online store.

Google's dominant search engine is set for another major revamp, as the Internet giant introduces a new tool called the “Knowledge Graph” – that will provide users with more relevant results. The new Knowledge Graph will appear in the form of short snippets to the right column of its results and provide users more information on a topic and help users explore related items as well. The new feature will be rolled out in the next few days to desktop, mobile and tablet users.

Google's new Knowledge Graph leverages Google-built database of over 500 million people, places and commonly sought queries to provide a brief information about a topic alongside the main search results.

“The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query,” Amit Singhal, senior vice president of engineering at Google, said in a blog post. “This is a critical first step toward building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the Web and understands the world a bit more like people do.”

Google's launch of Knowledge Graph comes days after Microsoft revamped its own Bing search engine with deeper integration of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The revamped Bing includes option to feature social results from Facebook and Twitter in searches. Microsoft also added new features to Bing to make the search engine easier to use.

Bangalore: Facebook has over 157 million users from different parts of the globe which allows these companies to grow globally. More the users checking the industry profile the more they get pageviews or likes or comments. Thus giving them the basic idea whether the consumers like their product and brand or not. In a study done by a social marketing firm, SocialBakers, presents the top 5 global brands depending upon the fans on Facebook.

Coca-Cola

Coke is a carbonated soft drink which is sold all around the world in about 200 countries. They have many other flavours of cola drinks. In 2011, it was regarded as the world’s most valuable brand. This company is located in United States. One of its major competitors is PepsiCo. Coca-cola ads are very famous because it features well renowned actors or pop stars or sports stars. It has also been an element of popular culture. Even though it has been criticized for the adverse health effects still it has managed to stand still in the market. In Facebook, this company holds the first position among the top 5 brands to engage the users and it has almost 42 million fans.

Starbucks

This is an international coffee company and coffeehouse chain which is based in Seattle, Washington. It operates in almost 58 countries and also has grocery stores. It is well known for its drip brewed coffee, expresso based hot drinks and snacks etc. The company also has an entertainment division and Hear Music brand. It markets books, music and film. It has partnered with Apple to collaborate on selling music. Starbucks stands on the second position on the Facebook’s top 5 brands and has about 30 million fans.

Converse

This company was founded by Marquis Mills Converse in late 30s and was named as Converse Rubber Shoe Company. Another unit was founded by Elisha converse in Malden, Massachussetts in 1908. In 1917 the Converse All-Star basketball shoe was introduced. The company became famous when a basketball player named Charles H. Taylor also known as “Chuck” was made the ambassador and salesman and later his signature was added to the All Star patch. Converse is very popular amongst the younger generation and so it ranks third in the list of Top 5 brands on Facebook with 30 million fans.

Red Bull

It is an energy drink which was created by Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian entrepreneur in 1987 in partnership with an inventor of an earlier energy drink, Chaleo Yoovidhya from Thailand. It is the most popular energy drink in the world in terms of market share, with $.5 billion cans sold each year. It has been marketed through advertisements with the slogan “Red Bull gives you wings.” It sponsors many events like Red Bull Air Race, Red Bull Racing, and Red Bull New York etc and also endorses with its record label known as Red Bull Records. This holds the fourth position in the list of Facebook’s top 5 brands and has around 28 million fans.

Oreo

It is delicious sandwich cookie and was introduced by Nabisco division of Kraft Foods in 1912. It has become the best selling cookie in the United States. In Canada it is sold under the brand name Christie. It is sold in many shapes and sizes, and also in different flavors. It has a great demand all over the world and is the fifth most engaging brand on Facebook with almost 26 million fans.

With the number of applications increasing day by day, there is a need to test its various parameters so as to make it reliable and user friendly. Apart from testing the various codes and attributes, testers would need to test one of the most vital part in a system-the database.

There are basically four operations that are facilitated by Database Tools like MS- Access2010, Oracle 10g and others. They are• Create: - Users will create information and save it.• Retrieve: - Information that is stored can be retrieved by the user.• Update: - Users can either edit or modify the information that has been saved previously.• Delete: - If any information that was saved becomes outdated, users can delete the information.

How to test Database?1. Create QueryFor an accurate Database test, the tester should possess a profound knowledge of the Structured Query Language (SQL) and Data Manipulation Language (DML) apart from a good understanding of internal database structure of the Application under Test (AUT). This will in turn help him verify the results using the SQL query.

2. Verify the result using the tableApart from using the SQL, the tester can also view the tables of database to verify the results. However, this will be a tedious job especially if the amount of data is large and spread in different tables.

3. Obtain Query from the DeveloperThe tester can perform any of the operations that are facilitated by the database tools and confirm the impacts by verifying the SQL query from the developer. This method is the simplest but it has some drawbacks especially when the query obtained from the developer doesn’t match the users’ requirement.

Importance of Database TestingThe importance of database testing in software testing should not be ignored as it is the data which is visible to the user.

1. Quality AssuranceBefore the software is made available to the user, testers should ensure that it meets the quality standards as required by the user. The database management system should be able to retrieve any information as requested by the user from time to time.

2. FeasibilityIf the amount of data is less, then manual counting is feasible. However, it can be a hectic task for anyone to count data with many attributes. The main objective of database testing is to ensure the usefulness of the data and that subsequently facilitate the systems functionality.

3. Identifying the problemDatabase testing will help the tester identify the root cause of the problem apart from detecting the hidden bugs in the database.

Database is the most critical and the backbone of any software applications. Without a proper database, the system will not be able to function as required by the user. A software application can be re-written over and over and old applications are thrown away. However, the database is carefully migrated when changing the applications.

Grammar and spelling mistakes are very common, and with the rise in shortened ‘text speak’, becoming even more so. The English language is made up of a lot of words that are really difficult to spell, but a lot of mistakes are simple to fix once you know what you did wrong.

The same can be said of grammar. Common grammar issues like “you’re” and “your” are easy to learn, it just takes a little time.

That’s not the only mistake you’ll see when reading, or maybe make when writing yourself. You could be writing for the web, either for a blog or as part of an online marketing strategy. You might be writing a novel or reviewing a product. Regardless, good grammar not only makes you appear more intelligent but it flows better when read back too.

In an effort to reduce these annoying little slip ups, here are five commonspelling and grammar mistakes you need to stop making now:

1# Recurrent misspellings

Even those who think they know all the tricks of grammar can get fooled by this one. A lot of people tend to write it as “alot” which isn’t a word.

2# There, Their and They’re

They all sound the same when read out loud, but have a separate meaning. It looks confusing at first, but it’s simple to learn the difference.

“Their” signifies possession. It’d work in a sentence like “It’s their house.”

Struggling
to know what to do in the wake of Google’s Penguin Update? Judging from
all the comments and forum discussions we’ve seen, plenty are. We’ve
got a little initial advice from Google on the topic, mixed with our
own.

What Was Penguin?

The Penguin Update launched on April 24. It was a change to Google’s
search results that was designed to punish pages that have been spamming
Google. If you’re not familiar with spam, it’s when people do things
like “keyword stuffing” or “cloaking” that violate Google’s guidelines.

Is Penguin Fully Live?

Sometimes it can take a few days for an update to fully rollout
across all Google’s various data centers, which in turn means impacting
all its search results. In this case, the rollout is complete. Google
confirms that Penguin is fully live.

Was I Hit?

It’s easy to run some search, see that your site has gone and assume
the worst. While Google does report some spamming offenses through Google Webmaster Central, it tells me there’s no way currently to log-in and know if the Penguin Update hit you.

My advice to people worried has been this. The update launched on
April 24. Look at your search-related traffic from Google immediately
after that date. Do you see a major drop compared with a day or two
before? If so, you were probably hit by Penguin. See a rise in traffic?
You probably benefited from Penguin. See no change? Then it really had
no impact on you.

I ran this advice past Google; I was told it was good advice. It’s
also exactly the same advice we and others have given people trying to
understand if they were hit by the various Panda Updates over time.

How Do I Recover?

Since this was targeting spam, you need to remove any spam you might have. In some cases, Google may have sent messages to you about spam activity in the past. Messages may even be waiting for you in Google Webmaster Central, if you’ve never verified your account.

Obviously, correct anything that Google has flagged as spam with your
site. If nothing’s been flagged — and you’re sure it was Penguin that
hit you — then correct whatever you can think of that might be
spam-like.

Within Google Webmaster Central, there’s the ability to file a reconsideration request.
However, Google says this is an algorithmic change — IE, it’s a penalty
that’s applied automatically, rather than a human at Google spotting
some spam and applying what’s called a manual penality.

Because of that, Google said that reconsideration requests won’t help with Penguin.

There is, however, a new form that you can use to report errors, if you think you were caught by mistake. See our separate story, Penguin Update Peck Your Site By Mistake? Google’s Got A Form For That, for more details about using this.

What If Google’s Wrong!

Feel like Penguin has nabbed you for spamming incorrectly? As explained above, you can use the new Penguin Feedback form. As Google’s statement above also explains, you can post feedback through Google’s webmaster forum.

If you do this, my advice is not to go in with the attitude that
Google has wronged your site. Maybe it did, but Google’s more interested
in whether its search results that are doing wrong by searchers.

Give an example of a search where maybe you were previously listed.
Explain the quality of your site. Explain what remains, especially if
what remains seems to be benefiting from spam or is of low quality.

Of course, giving examples like this is also seen by some as
“outing,” and there’s a belief among some SEOs that it should never be
done. Others disagree. If this bothers you, then at least explain the
quality behind your site and what’s being missed by searchers, not an
emphasis on things like how much traffic or business you’re losing.

What About The Over-Optimization Penalty?

Google had initially warned that an “over-optimization” penalty was coming. This is the penalty it was talking about, but it has clarified that it’s not meant to target some hard-to-pin down “over-optimization” but rather outright spam.

What About Panda 3.5?

Yesterday, Google confirmed that it also released an update to its Panda algorithm, Panda 3.5,
on April 19. Unlike Penguin, which is meant to target spam, Panda is
designed to target pages that aren’t spam but aren’t great quality.

What About That Parked Domains Mistake?

Around April 17, a number of sites reported lost traffic. That turned out to be a problem with how Google was incorrectly classifying them as being parked domains.

If your traffic dropped around April 17, it’s probably related to
that, especially if you recovered by April 18. It shouldn’t be
responsible for any drop you might see after April 18. Rather, Panda and
Penguin are more likely culprits.

What About All Those Link Warnings?

Around mid-March, Google began taking action against some blog
networks that seemed chiefly designed just to generate links to those
participating, in hopes of boosting rankings. Then around the end of
March, Google also sent warnings about “artificial or unnatural links”
to a variety of sites.

If you saw your traffic drop in mid-March, it could be for one of two
reasons. First, Google might no longer be letting the traffic from the
link networks you were in carry weight. You’re not penalized. You’re
just not benefiting any longer. Second, Google might have actively
attached a penalty to your site.

It’s really not clear which has happened to people. Getting a warning
doesn’t necessarily mean you got a penalty, it seems. But we’ll try to
confirm this more from Google in the coming days.

What About Negative SEO?

Especially in the past week, there’s been a huge rise in forum
discussions that “negative SEO” is now a serious problem. The idea is
that if being in a blog network or having paid links could hurt you,
then anyone could point bad links to harm another site.

This fear has existed for years. It’s not new. It’s even something
Google acknowledges can happen in some limited cases. The fact that
we’ve not had many sites over the years complaining that negative SEO
has hit them should be reassuring.

For most sites, it’s not a problem because good sites have enough
good signals in their favor that bad ones stand out as an oddity. It’s
more a liability for smaller sites that haven’t built my authority, in
my view.

I’ll be following up in more depth on the current round of worries,
and I’ll try to get Google to weigh in more on the fresh concerns.

Is Penguin Bad For Searchers, Small Businesses….

If you read forum discussions, the Penguin Update has ruined Google’s search results. The reality is difficult to tell.

Make no mistake, it’s easy to find plenty of weirdness in Google’s results, as I covered in yesterday’s post, Did Penguin Make Google’s Search Results Better Or Worse?

However, these still remain anecdotal reports. It’s always been possible to find oddities like this.

There’s been no mass outcry from ordinary Google searchers that it’s
suddenly gotten worse. There’s also typically outcry mostly from
publishers who have been harmed by updates and not from publishers who
have gained. Those who’ve gained have no reason to speak up.

As a result, after any update, it’s always possible to come away with
a skewed view that the sky is falling in terms of relevancy. The
reactions I’ve seen to the Penguin Update? They could have all been
drawn directly out of reactions from the Florida Update of 2003. This presentation I did for concerned publishers at the time are equally applicable today.

After that update, Google was accused of trying to do everything from
put small businesses out-of-business to trying to get more AdWords cash
out of big brands. And SEO was dead yet again.

If SEO is dead, it sure has been taking its time dying, as I’ve written in the past.
If Google really does have a grand master plan to wipe out small
businesses, then it’s going on 10 years now that it hasn’t managed to do
it.

The reality is that I’d say the vast majority of small businesses are
getting plenty of traffic from Google, real small businesses that make
real things or provide real services.
Of course, if the definition of small business is someone who writes
hundreds of articles for a blog, to carry Google’s or someone else’s ads
alongside, then “spins” those articles using software into slightly
different versions for three other blogs to carry more ads, then yes,
those types of businesses are in danger. They were from the beginning,
actually, and it’s surprising they’ve lasted so long.

None of that is meant to take away from anyone with a quality site
who has been harmed by latest update. If Google’s screwing up on listing
relevant sites, we want to know, and we sure want that corrected. But
as someone who has witnessed Google updates for as far back as we’ve had
Google — who can remember panic over updates with Excite that existed
before Google — this seems fairly normal.

Search didn’t suddenly stop sending everyone traffic. Google didn’t
just stop sending sites tons of traffic. A bunch of people were
definitely hit, some of whom probably should have been hit. A bunch of
people were rewarded, some of whom should have been rewarded. Most
people probably noticed no change at all. Here’s hoping the people who
were hit mistakenly, or who weren’t rewarded as they should have been,
get corrected in future updates.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Lightbox could have been considered the Instagram of Android, that is, before Instagram came to Android. The app allowed Android users to take pictures, add filters, share them with their friends as well as geolocate their photos, providing, in essence, a similar service that Instagram offers. Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion almost immediately after Instagram launched an app for the Android platform. The aim behind the acquisition seemed to be to improve Facebook's mobile presence. Furthermore, Facebook recently updated its mobile apps to contain larger photos and its Every Phone app to add filters to the photo uploader. Now, Lightbox has announced in a blog post that the social networking giant has bought the Android photo sharing application.

Lightbox gets the thumbs up from Facebook

Lightbox made it clear that Facebook only bought the development team behind the app, not the company and the photos. They said, "In the coming weeks, we will be open sourcing portions of the code we’ve written for Lightbox and posting them to our Github repository." Lightbox has also provided a download link for users who want to move their photos if they want to. Lightbox.com will only be in function till the 15th of June and the service is not accepting any new signups. Lightbox only runs in Android and in HTML5 so Facebook might utilize the new acquired development team to work on their Android app.

We recently spoke to Director of Outreach at Lightbox, Stephen Morse on a trip he made to Mumbai; check out the interview here. Lightbox seemed to have been doing well enough for itself and Facebook lapped up their talent before they even came out with an iOS app. There are some Lightbox users, however, who are not too happy with the Facebook acquisition. One user,razorsharpe said, "I love FACEBOOK. It’s fun. Still, I like to keep a lot of things off of FB. One of my favorite non-FB apps was LIGHTBOX. In my opinion, many of its filters (esp. “Ansel”) were way better than Instagram’s. Here’s to hoping that someone at FB is listening or that someone will use the open source code to bring Lightbox back." Do you use Lightbox? Are you upset with the acquisition? Let it out in the comments below.

Has a book ever inspired you to hop on a bus to the next town, book a plane ticket or plan the expedition of a lifetime?

Sometimes it’s an epic recounting of a classic trip. In other cases, it’s simply a book with such a strong sense of place that you can’t wait to see that land, taste that food and hear that language for yourself.

I’ve lost count of the number of books that have spurred me to travel, but here are some of my favourites. Many are books I read as an impressionable kid that have resonated for decades—literary merit (or lack thereof) notwithstanding.

The list is utterly unscientific and personal—among other things, it reflects interests as diverse as Buddhism, chick lit and the Second World War—so please chime in with suggestions of your own in the comments section. In particular, thrillers and horror novels scare the heck out of me, so I’m woefully uninformed about the charms of Stieg Larsson’s Stockholm or Stephen King’s Maine. And I’m eager to expand my knowledge of foreign authors in translation. I’d love it if you’d fill me in.

1 - The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

What teenager growing up in the Toronto suburbs in the early 1980s wouldn’t be captivated by Holden Caulfield’s sophisticated travels in late-1940s Manhattan?

2 - The Last House of Ulster, A Family in Belfast, by Charles Foran

An utterly engrossing non-fiction account of one family and their struggles to maintain some sort of normal life amid “The Troubles” in Ireland.

3 - The Watch That Ends the Night, by Hugh MacLennan

A quiet schoolmaster, a fiery radical and the ill woman they both adore. Against the odds, it makes Montreal seem even more romantic than normal.

4 - Heidi, by Johanna Spyri

This sentimental tale about a Swiss orphan and her crusty grandfather has been lodged in my brain since I was very, very young. It would be over three decades before I finally saw the Swiss Alps for myself.

5 - Gone to Soldiers, by Marge Piercy

Okay, it’s Paris during the Nazi occupation, so the joie de vivre is seriously dimmed. But it’s still Paris, and Piercy brings it to vivid life.

6 - The White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga

An ambitious New Delhi servant becomes a successful Bangalore entrepreneur through violent means in this Man Booker Prize-winning novel.

7 - The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough

Say what you like about the literary merits of this 1977 potboiler, it made a sheep station in the Australian outback sound like paradise when I devoured it in high school.

8 - Radio Shangri-La, by Lisa Napoli

An utterly absorbing story of an American journalist’s journey to Bhutan to help start the country’s first private radio station. In the process, she witnesses the country’s eagerness to enter the 21st century.

9 - Tales of a Female Nomad, by Rita Golden Gelman

Forget Eat, Pray, Love. This memoir of a fearless solo world traveller—she thinks nothing of breezing into an isolated Mexican village and asking a stranger to rent her a room—is candid and charming.

10 - Among the Cities, by Jan Morris

I could have picked any Jan Morris book. Honestly, I’d read her grocery list and probably enjoy it—her writing is that crisp, evocative and delightful. I chose this collection because it covers dozens of the world’s most intriguing cities.